As I'd feared on Friday, whatever the hell it was that knocked me down while I was in Alabama has largely left my sinuses (thank the gods), but retreated into my inner ears. I lost all hearing in my left ear about two hours ago, and whenever I move my head I can feel fluid gurgling around in there (which hurts like a bitch, let me tell you).

I've already found a general practitioner that takes my insurance in the area; I'll be making an appointment as soon as I get up tomorrow morning, which I fear will be early, early, early. I've already taken Monday and Tuesday off as sick days from work.

Can you tell that I hate ear infections?

I've had far too many of them over the years - between the ages of eleven and, oh, fourteen or therabouts, I averaged three or four every year, usually shortly after or in conjunction with cases of strep throat. It got to the point where peering into my ear canals and swabbing the back of my throat was little more than a formality for my GP back home because those were the only reasons he ever saw me. With the other hand, I swear the man was already writing up a prescription for amoxicillin and whatever those ear drops were (gods, it's been too long). I've had so many ear infections over the years that I have a little hearing damage from them, truth be told. Not so much that I can't tell what's going on around me or that I have to read lips, but a little bit of tinnitus overlaying everything I hear, from the sound of air conditioning to the relative silence at night when I'm trying to go to sleep. I've gotten used to it in the decade and some and can compensate for it (I can still listen to touch tones, for example, and tell you what numbers were dialed), but it's still there.